http://www.iags.org/n1115045.htm

Radical Islam and LNG in Trinidad and Tobago

Over the past several years, maritime attacks have become more violent, more
frequent and clearly more organized. It is believed that militant groups,
particularly in South East Asia, are practicing hijacking ships for their
possible use as weapons. Of all types of vessels oil and chemical tankers
are perhaps the most attractive targets for terrorists. These vessels are
manned by smaller crews and loaded with volatile substances that could
potentially cause significant damage. According to the International
Maritime Bureau (IMB) attacks against tankers are growing at an alarming
rate. 

While all eyes are placed on the area surrounding the Malacca Straits, the
world oil bottleneck, and on the Indonesian coast off Aceh, very little
attention is placed on the U.S. underbelly of the Caribbean and the softer
targets in the region closest to America's back yard: Trinidad, Venezuela
and the Bahamas. These Caribbean countries are among the short list of
natural gas producing countries and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exporters. Trinidad and Tobago alone account
for 80% (1st quarter 2004) of all U.S. LNG imports, up from 68% in 2002.
Therefore, any incident involving an LNG tanker along the Caribbean routes
could harm not only U.S. energy security but also the economies of the
Caribbean islands, affecting tourism and other industries. 

LNG and Tanker Terrorism 

U.S. Department of Energy figures paint a bleak picture for U.S. dependence
on imported energy in the coming decades. Existing well heads in the U.S.
are being depleted while demand for natural gas is expected to rise 2% a
year. Imports from Canada, whose own energy demand is increasing, are
projected to pick up some of the burden. But Canada's gas demand is growing
faster than expected, also due to the gas intensive process of converting
tar sands to crude oil, and thus its ability to export gas to the U.S. is
being diminished. The U.S. will therefore be required to import more of its
gas in LNG form from Nigeria, Sao Tome, Trinidad, Venezuela and the Persian
Gulf. Today 2% of total gas usage in the U.S. is derived from LNG. By 2010
this figure is likely to grow to 10%. 

LNG terminals and tankers present potential targets for terrorists. In the
pre-9/11 world LNG tankers were considered among the safest ships at sea.
These tankers are still as safe as is possible for a vessel of this nature
today. But this statement is only valid if one pre-supposes that terrorists
do not want an easily attainable weapon of mass destruction. The potential
for mass casualty maritime suicide terrorism has changed our perceptions of
safety at sea especially when it comes to lean crewed LNG tankers and other
PCG (Petro/chemical/gas) and ships. With maritime terrorists currently
combing the world for ways to make their message reach as wide an audience
as possible, LNG tankers could be their perfect mass casualty weapon. 

Islamic fundamentalism in Trinidad and Tobago 

Trinidad and Tobago is a beautiful country in the Southern part of the
Caribbean. It is in fact the southernmost of the Caribbean islands and the
last island before Venezuela. It is one of the most affluent of the
Caribbean islands with, for several years, the highest foreign direct
investment per capita in the entire western hemisphere except for Canada.
The home of tourism, steel band, calypso and carnival is unfortunately also
the home of one of the first attempts at violently establishing a modern
Islamic extremist state in the region after the attempted Islamic coup in
July 1990. 15% of the island's population is Muslim. 

The group responsible, Jama'at al Muslimeen under the control of Imam Yasin
Abu Bakr, is alive and thriving in Trinidad. Congressional testimony of
Major General Gary D. Speer, Acting Commander in Chief U.S. Southern Command
to the House Appropriations Committee on International Relations,
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations in April 2002 stated: "The recent bombing
outside the U.S Embassy in Peru preceding President Bush's visit is
indicative that other domestic terrorist groups pose threats to the United
States elsewhere in the hemisphere. These include, but are not limited to,
the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA) in Peru and the Jama'at al Muslimeen (JAM) in Trinidad and Tobago." 

Other groups active on the island are Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (The Islamic
Front) and the Jamaat al Murabiteen. The Waajihatul Islaamiyyah group openly
supports Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda and Jemmah Islamiyyah, the organization
behind the Bali beachfront bombing that killed close to 200 people. It has
issued statements that it intends to set up an Islamic state and described
itself as a revolutionary ideological movement. Their press releases include
the following statements: "With our weapons we are going reach you. We will
reach you where you sleep, we will reach you where you take your baths, we
will reach you where you take your meals and have your drinks, and even a
glass of water you hold in your hand to drink may not be safe." It added:
"Don't for one second think you will be victorious. You feel you fight and
kill us but you only fight shadows cast by the Qur'an and the teachings of
the Prophet Muhammad. Your faith is in your hands-choose how it ends." 

There have been other leads back to Trinidad as part of the global crackdown
on terrorism. In March 2003, federal investigators announced publicly that
they were searching for Adnan El'Shukri-Jumah, an American man named by a
top al Qaeda operative as a trained terrorist. El'Shukri-Jumah had returned
home to visit relatives in Georgetown during Ramadan 2001. He was traced to
Trinidad and Canada but was lost enroute. The Sun-Sentinel reported that
investigators were following up leads that El'Shukri-Jumah's father,
Gulshair El'Shukri-Jumah, taught at the Darul Uloom Institute and Islamic
Training Centre in Pembroke Pines, U.S. and suspicion turned to the Darul
Uloom in Cunupia, Trinidad a 45-minute drive from Trinidad's capital,
Port-of-Spain. The two schools shared the same name and the connections
between El'Shukri-Jumah and the arrested al Qaeda operative led
investigators to examine the likelihood them being part of a network for
training and financing terrorists. Investigations into the connections were
inconclusive. 

On September 19, 2001 a man with ties to the Jamaat alleged to be linked to
bin Laden pleaded guilty in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, federal court to
unlawful possession of a machine gun. Insight Magazine reported "Federal
officials say that Keith Andre Gaude, who was detained in a U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) sting operation, came to Florida to buy
as many as 60 AK-47 assault rifles and 10 MAC-10 submachine guns with
silencers." 

In October 2002, Trinidad immigrant Shueyb Mossa Jokhan was sentenced to
"nearly five years in federal prison for a terrorist bombing plot,"
according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The report said that Jokhan
pleaded guilty to "conspiring to bomb electrical transformers and the
Israeli Consulate in Miami." The plan reportedly was "hatched in a Florida
mosque" and involved a Pakistani immigrant who recruited Jokhan for the
attack. 

In December 2002, Insight Magazine found further evidence that al Qaeda and
two other Middle East terrorist groups had allegedly established operations
and leading a holy war against U.S. and British interests from Trinidad and
Tobago. "Umar Abdullah is "leading a group called the Islamic Front,"
believed to be "smuggling AK-47s, Tech-9s and Glocks" into the island
country. It is believed that Abdullah may have fought in Afghanistan against
the Soviet Union during the 1980s, and operates "in solidarity with al Qaeda
and the Taliban" and is "maintaining relations with [the Palestinian
terrorist groups] Hamas and Islamic Jihad." All these incidents indicate a
growing presence of Islamist fundamentalism in the part of the world where
America's LNG comes from. Without question there is concern that the
significant presence of U.S. and British petroleum companies in the oil-rich
nation provide easy pickings for terrorists. Local opinion is that this is
the reason U.S. and British counterterrorism experts are on the island. 

Under the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago's effective new and aggressive
Minister for National Security Senator Martin Joseph, the law enforcement
units in Trinidad and Tobago are well trained, able and resourceful and it
is to their credit that they have held the forces of terrorism at bay thus
far. The Joint Operations Command Center set up in the late 1990s has been
spearheading the fight against maritime crime, narcotic interdiction, and
arms smuggling and the ethos of information sharing and joint operations
promoted by the Center was a radical new departure in intelligence gathering
and operations in the region. New systems are currently being put in place
to ensure that intelligence is focused and operations driven. 

But all this may not be enough to prevent terrorists from targeting LNG
facilities in the serene Caribbean. Despite U.S. reliance on the country for
its LNG deliveries, the established presence of fundamentalists in the
region and its increasing attractiveness as a target the area has received
little attention in the counterterrorism community. To address the danger
the eyes of the world and the international co-operation in intelligence
sharing, training, and operational practice should now focus upon this
undeclared maritime hotspot which has fallen under the radar. If we are to
ensure the safety of the gas deliveries to the U.S., the safety of the
transit zones and the islands located along the Caribbean shipping lanes
then we have to ensure that targets are hardened around the world and not
just in the current piracy hotspots. 

What can be done? 

The idea that terrorists could attack an LNG tanker en route to the U.S. or
Japan or Spain, the three main destinations for LNG leaving the Caribbean,
either via sea or with small aircraft on a suicide mission must be
recognized as possible and acted upon. The island chain that LNG tankers
sail through en route to their destinations provide any number of soft
targets with limited response resources. 

In a circumstance such as this, consideration should be given to the
co-ordination and communication issues that a terrorist hijacking of one of
these vessels would create. In a multi-agency response scenario command and
control would be vital to the resolution of an incident if resolution is
even possible. Contingency planning for rapid response teams and counter
action teams should be a priority in the region. Regional co-operation is
the missing link. The multi dimensional reaction capability must be jointly
assessed and jointly planned. 

Escort ships and a heightened alert state should be enforced with the law
enforcement fraternity when LNG or crude oil tankers are transiting
populated areas. Guard ship duties should be part of the regular operational
procedures of the maritime authorities in the region and extra vigilance
along coast lines coupled with moving security cordons around vessels must
be enforced. Special handover radar procedures and joint jurisdictional
crisis teams should be established to deal with an incident as a hijacked
LNG tanker will affect any number of nations along its route. 

When LNG tankers go into an LNG port to discharge cargo fast escort boats
should travel alongside each gas tanker as it makes its journey to the
terminal. Aerial surveillance for the passage of the vessel into port can
also be provided by law enforcement. A security zone extending 500 yards on
each side, two miles ahead and a mile behind the tanker should be imposed
and other vessels should be instructed to give the tanker a wide berth
during its passage. All boat traffic should be forbidden in the moving
safety zone. 

When LNG tankers approach a port in the U.S. six tugboats direct the ship's
movements while two others provide state-of-the-art fire fighting equipment.
U.S. Coast Guard crews board and inspect the ship before it enters the
harbor. As many as a half-dozen armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels accompany the
ship through the harbour. Also present are state and local police boats. The
restrictions remain in force during the 12-hour unloading process. Violators
face arrest, fines of up to $25,000 and prison terms of up to 10 years. This
model has so far been successful and could be emulated in the Caribbean. 

Co-ordination, communication and joint tracking coupled with joint training
and operational exercises will ensure that shipments are effectively
monitored as they transit the Caribbean and any threats in the area
communicated to the vessel as it leaves and enters one jurisdiction from
another. Some of these measures are mandated by the International Ship and
Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) but implementation of monitoring
centres and joint regional responses need planning and a pro-active stance
by the maritime policing and naval presence in the region. The Caribbean is
one seaway and joint coastal surveillance and information sharing is an
absolute requirement in an era of increasing terrorist threat. 

Candyce Kelshall is Director of Bluewater Defence and Security Ltd and
Director of Task International Ltd and currently sits on the UK SITO
National Port Security Standards Committee.
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